It feels so weird posting on here again. I've moved over to ao3 so writing on here is kinda nostalgic in a way...
(Yes I did delete all my old stories because holy hell the cringe!)
Also: Grace Johnson is an OC - She's Angelina's aunt as timeline wise she wouldn't be old enough to be her mum
It was early in the morning when the marauders headed down to breakfast. Sitting in their usual spots at the Gryffindor table, they start to grab their food. A comfortable silence fell upon the group. Suddenly Sirius perks up and asks a question none of the other 3 were expecting to hear, "What do you think would win between a hippogriff and a thestral?"
Peter just laughs, whilst James immediately beings to think of the answer. "I want to say hippogriff. It's bigger and stronger"
"But thestrals have the whole invisibility thing as an advantage" Sirius counters
"Well hippogriffs have to hunt to eat so surely they've seen death, meaning the invisibility wouldn't do squat"
"That all depends on if you're counting killing prey as seeing death" Peter adds "What do you think Moony?"
"I think you're all insane" He laughs, picking up the daily prophet "But if I had to answer honestly, I would say it could go either way. If a hippogriff killing its prey counts then it would win but if the thestral had the advantage of invisibility then it would win because the hippogriff wouldn't know where to attack."
Sirius nods his head in consideration and then throws out another hypothetical "Doxy vs. Billywig"
Before anyone could answer, a gentle laugh from further up the table interrupts them. The bespectacled boy immediately honing in on the red head it came from.
"Lily's looking lovely this morning" James dreamily sighs. Peter rolls his eyes at the love struck boy sat next to him. Halfway through his eye roll, the sandy haired boy happens to notice that the messy birds nest his best friend called hair had started to turn hot pink. Peter turns away, covering his mouth with his hand as his shoulders silently shook with laughter. Sirius, seeing Pete start to laugh out of the corner of his eye, turns to look at the boy sitting across from him to check if he's ok. Peter just points to the boy next to him. The black haired marauder follows his friend's finger with his eyes until he too notices James running his hands through his new pink hair. Sirius joins in with the laughter, hands hiding his face from view. Next to Sirius, Remus just smirks as he continues reading the Daily Prophet.
Almost as if the silent laughter jolted James out of his daydream, he turns to his friends "Wait, what time is it?"
"7:43" Remus answers, after checking his watch.
"Frank wanted to discuss Quidditch." James stands up, grabbing an apple to go.
Sirius looks up from his hiding spot "At quarter to 8 in the morning?"
"It's hard work like this that makes him the best damn seeker at Hogwarts! You could stand to learn something from him Padfoot" Sirius just sticks his tongue out in response and takes another piece of toast as James walks out of the Great Hall, completely unaware that his hair is still as pink as a pygmy puff.
"So the hair?" questions Peter
"I believe that's your handiwork Moons?" Sirius answers, eyeing up the boy next to him quizzically.
"It very well could be" Remus supplies, putting the Daily Prophet to one side and stealing Sirius' last piece of toast.
"Brilliant" Laughs Sirius, rolling his eyes and letting the boy steal his breakfast.
"Will his hair stay pink all day?" Peter wondered, drinking the rest of his orange juice.
"Nah" Remus replies "It'll wear off sometime between 1-5 minutes. Completely random each time"
"Each time?"
"Anytime he says a variation of Lily's name, his hair will become a bright hot pink beacon. He was complaining that Lily wasn't noticing him…kinda hard to miss him now." Sirius and Peter both start laughing. After a few seconds, Remus joins in.
In the corner of the Gryffindor common room James and Frank were talking, James with his foot on the seat, giving off an air of nonchalance. "So why couldn't we have a team practice?" Frank asks the other boy.
"Cause Hufflepuff has, unfortunately, booked the pitch today. Pretty sure Fabian, Grace and I could potentially squeeze in some chaser practice later but I don't know. It might just be a small meeting instead. Right, strategy time." James replies, once again threading his fingers through his now black hair.
"I was thinking" Frank began, clearing his throat "If I hang back and don't do anything for the first part of the game, it would let you guys rack up some points. That way when I start to look for the Snitch it'll give us a greater chance at winning."
"Brilliant. Maybe include a few fakes to throw the opposing seeker off course. Who are we up against next?"
Frank goes silent for a couple of seconds, mentally mapping out the Quidditch league table "Ravenclaw"
"Bollocks!" James clicks his fingers in frustration "Boot's been bragging about the newest beaters on her team. I'll need to talk to Pads and Marley at some point today then"
"Good luck with that, pretty sure Alice said something about Marlene and Dorcas spending the day in Hogsmeade."
"I'll have to ask Lils or Mary to pass on the message later then" Once again, unbeknownst to the chaser, his hair has turned a hot pink colour.
"If you want I could ask Alice? I'm meeting her by the lake after this" Frank asks, trying hard to keep himself from laughing.
"That'll be helpful, cheers Frank"
"No problem mate" James stands up and heads for the portrait hole. After the Fat Lady's painting closes behind him, Frank lets out the laughter he was holding back.
Later on in the day, the Marauders were in the library during free period. "Why is History of Magic so boring!?" James complains, resting his chin on his hands.
"Do you reckon Binns would notice if we just stopped showing up?" Sirius replies, throwing a crumpled up piece of parchment at his best friends head.
The bespectacled boy's chaser instincts help him catch the ball of parchment before it hits him and answers "The bloke didn't even realise he'd died…we could throw a party in his classroom and he wouldn't notice."
"True"
Sensing a plan in the making, Peter puts down his book on the Goblin Uprisings throughout the years "Sounds like a plan to me!" He then goes back to comparing the dates in the book to the ones in his essay "Why are there so many uprisings" He whispers under his breath
"Why stop at a party. Why not make it a full on disco?" Adds Remus, not looking up from his essay.
"Moony you're a genius! A wonderful, creative, beautiful, charming, amazi–"
Remus rolls his eyes and looks at the long haired boy next to him "Sirius stop stalling and do your essay"
Just then James notices a certain red head perusing the books in the Charms section "Shit! It's Lily! Act natural!" He then drapes himself on his chair. Picking up the closest book near him and opening it to random page, not noticing he's holding it upside down.
"Yeah, totally natural there Prongsy" Sirius comments with a smirk
"Naturally stupid" the werewolf next to him whispers under his breath, causing Sirius to laugh.
Peter just looks on in amusement, having clocked the bright pink mess that was his friend's hair "James, no offence but you couldn't act natural if someone had a wand to your head"
"HEY!" The volume of James' indignation causes Lily to look over to the Marauders table. Her gaze moving from the two books in her hands and immediately locking onto the Potter boy's hair. She bites her lip to contain the laugh wanting to leave her mouth. Looking away, she shakes her head, places one the books back on the shelf and leaves the library with the other. "She hates me! She just looked at me and laughed! Are my glasses smudged? Have I got something on my face?"
Remus just shakes his head with amusement "Well, aren't you being melodramatic this afternoon. That's normally Sirius' job"
"Moony! How could you say that?!" Sirius exclaims, holding his hand to his heart
"Exhibit A"
James makes his way to the 3rd floor to meet Fabian Prewett and Grace Johnson to talk to them about the strategy Frank came up with earlier.
"Sorry to keep you guys waiting, Remus made us study in the library"
"Yeah, god forbid that you study at school" Grace quips "But no sweat, what did you need to talk about?"
James explains the new strategy and adds in a few things that they could also work on during their next practice.
"Well if you want, Gideon and I can go talk to McGonagall. See if we can book the pitch tomorrow?"
"Fabian that would be great! We have to beat Ravenclaw this year! Wood will not let me live it down if we lose!"
Fabian laughs whilst Grace just rolls her eyes "Keep your hair on James"
"Speaking of my hair… can you see anything wrong with it? Pete keeps giggling every time he looks at it. I checked in the mirror and I can't see any difference!"
"You're probably just being paranoid" The female chaser answers
"Yeah, it's just as messy as normal"
"Cheers Fabian. It's not just Peter either, could've sworn Evans was laughing at it too. I don't know, maybe I am just paranoid." James runs his hands through his hair, calming himself down. His hair turning pink as soon as his fingers comb through it. "Anyway, good talk, I'll potentially see you two at practice tomorrow."
The two remaining chasers waited until the Gryffindor Quidditch captain turned the corner before looking at each other and bursting into laughter, tears rolling down their faces.
Lily Evans is sitting on a windowsill in the Transfiguration courtyard, reading the Charms book she checked out of the library earlier in the day. To her right she hears footsteps and looks up. She bits her lip and decides to call out "You alright Potter?"
James stops walking and looks around to see who called him. Upon seeing Lily he smiles, walks over and leans on the wall next to her "Oh hey Evans! Yeah I'm ok. How're you?"
"I'm doing fine. Just studying for the upcoming Charms test." She responds, lifting her book up to show the cover.
"Shit! My mind's been so occupied with Quidditch; I'd completely forgotten Flitwick set a test!"
"Of course you did" the red head laughs
"Would you be the most amazing woman in the world and tell me which chapters the test is on? If I ask Remus, all I'll get is a sarcastic comment."
"And you think I'd tell you because?"
"You're gorgeous and brilliant and love to help friends in their time of need?"
Lily laughs and shakes her head in amusement "You've been spending too much time with Black. But it's chapters 5 and 6 if you must know."
"Lily you are a godsend! Right, I'll leave you to it." James pushes himself off of the wall and starts his trek back to the common room.
"Oh, and Potter?"
"Yeah?" James answers, turning back to look at his crush
"Nice hair"
"Huh?" Comes the confused response. James summons a mirror and finally sees what others have been laughing at. Thinking back to all the interactions he's had over the course of the day he immediately he knows exactly who caused this. "Son of a Hippogriff!" He then begins to run to the common room, leaving Lily laughing as she returns to her book.
In the common room Remus is lounging in one of the chairs, reading 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe', with Sirius and Peter sat on the floor in front of him playing wizard's chess. "Pads, you may as well give up, Wormy is wiping the floor with you" he comments.
"No! This is my shot! I will win this time" Sirius replies stubbornly
Peter laughs at his response and chimes in "Sure. I have beaten you about 5 times in a row now"
"Not the point!" Sirius shouts. The portrait opens and a very displeased James storms through…
"REMUS JOHN LUPIN"
Said boy looks up from his book, a small smile crossing his features "Yes Jamie?" he answers in an innocent tone.
"What did you do!?" The bespectacled boy demanded, hands resting on his hips in indignation.
Remus puts his bookmark between the pages of his book, sets the book in his lap and sits up slightly "You're going to need to be more specific"
James throws his hands up and grabs at his head "My hair–"
"–looks lovely. Did you do something different with it?" Came the snarky reply from the boy responsible
"WHY IS IT PINK?"
Sirius and Peter have all but abandoned their chess game in favour of watching the verbal tennis match unfolding before them. "Why do you think I had something to do with it?" The werewolf gestures to the two silent marauders in front of him "They could equally be responsible"
James looks down at the two sat on the floor and then back to Remus "I know it's your fault because you are the only person who hasn't looked at it or laughed about it"
"Ok fair point" Remus puts his hands up in surrender with a slight chuckle "Yeah it was me"
"Why?"
Remus leans back in his chair again, opening his book but still looking at James "Well you seemed pretty bummed out last night that Lily never notices you. Thought it might help" he finished with a shrug and a smirk.
"Oh she's noticed" came James' immediate response "Can you please undo whatever spell or jinx you cast?"
"Sure" The scarred boy picked up his wand from the side table and cast the counter spell at his messy haired friend.
"Thank you" James scratched his head. Turning to face his brother "By the way Pads, we might have Quidditch practice tomorrow afternoon depending on if the twins managed to book the pitch. Anyway with that I am off to have a shower." He heads towards the stairs leading up to the Gryffindor dorms, unaware that his hair was still hot pink in colour.
Peter waited until James had disappeared beyond the door before turning to the mastermind of the prank "Why is his hair still pink? I thought you just undid the spell"
"I did" Remus said, shrugging as he went back to reading "He just never specified when he wanted the affects to wear off"
"So how long?" laughed Sirius
"It'll wear off at some point tomorrow"
Sirius just shook his head in amusement. He turned back to the chess board in front of him just in time to watch Peter take his 6th victory of the night "Checkmate!"
Hope you enjoyed x